Unusual Vignettes on Paper Money

Yep it's an Elvis note!
And he ain't nothin but a hound dog!

 

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Chicago Rock Island Gold bond specimen ABNCo RR vignette

B&O RR 1855 stock certificate vignette

 

Don't get me started on trains, Midas. There's not enough storage space on this server. Those two are gorgeous!

Really like the Manual Labor Bank vignette, too. Elvis the glassblower -- who would have guessed?

SM, big thanks on identifying that biplane in the Sperry vignette. I'd never heard of a Curtiss Condor, but sure enough that's what it is!

 

My grandmother fascinated me with tales of her youth - getting a flying eagle cent in change one time, but it was a lot of money even in the late 1920's so she spent it on candy. One of my favourite stories was sometime when she was about 9-10 years old a Curtiss Condor landed during a fair where she grew up. It was a lot of money, but her father paid $5 each for her and her brother to be able to fly on the plane - and she recounted(to my laughter) how hard it must have been for the pilot to keep the plane level with a load of kids in the back running back and forth from window to window looking out to their town below.

 

Thanks gsalexan. Your collection is absolutely amazing as are many of the other images. Who would've thunk Elvis was a glassblower?
douglass aircraft stock cert. ABNCo specimen bond

 

That is bayuteeful!

 

Duke, that cracks me up. hahaha.

 

Thanks. I think it's pretty amazing for the time: earth, planets, (Mars is my favorite), stars and three biplanes.
What a great vignette for an aviation company that's looking to the future what with the stars and planets.

 

Clearly advertising gimmicks on the notes or bonds to promote their company as up to par with progress. Sometimes the vignettes on the notes are relevant to the main industry found in the areas where they were issued.

 

Found a couple nice trolley vignettes from the Commemorative Panel series. One's even horse-drawn!

 

History lesson du jour -- submitted for your approval a $2 obsolete note from the Bank of Granville in Ohio, circa 1860. This is actually from ABNCo's American Paper Money Collection, but since the bank never actually opened, this proof may be the only way we get to see it.

The central vignette, titled "The Mechanic," was engraved by Lorenzo Hatch and W.W. Rice. It shows something called a pendulum governor or fly-ball governor. This device was attached to an engine (you can see the belt at the top) to govern its speed. It spun on its shaft with the weights acting as a brake to prevent the engine from racing out of control. The faster it spun, the further out the fly-balls extended. At top speed the weights spun out to their limit.

And that, my friends, is the true origin of the term "balls out."

 

That is just a balls out post!

 

Time for a few more additions. These are from the Commemorative Panels series and all the vignettes were engraved by the American Bank Note Co. or it's predecessors. I'm certain some of these have appeared on obsolete banknotes, however, not sure which ones. More often they probably appeared on stocks or bonds.

This set is of occupations from bygone days. The lower vignette of the log rafts was engraved in 1856; you can see a steamboat in the background. The wheat threshing scene features a steam tractor with a belt drive connected to the threshing machine. I've had the chance to see one of these in action-- they are impressive! Telegraph office would probably be circa 1900, judging by the girl on the telephone. Probably my favorite is the horse-drawn pump engine furiously charging towards a three-alarm fire!

 

A few more odds and ends. All of these would have probably been engraved in the 1880s or earlier. I'm sure I've seen the bubble blower on an obsolete note. If anyone can identify the use of any others, I'd be interested to hear about it!

 

And lastly, some more animals. Two beavers, a beehive, and...the only alligator vignette I've ever seen! I have never found this one on any banknote or security, but I'd love to know what it was used for. Louise Delnoce engraved this in 1883. I believe he also did an ostrich for an Argentine note. Anybody have one of those?

 

Wow, thanks for sharing those. I love the bee hive and the little joker vignette (twilight zonish).

 

I love the whimsical vignettes engraved to depict Commerce and Industry. These come from my copy of "The Story the American Bank Note Company" (copyright 1959).

 

Just think about the amount of time it took to engrave all those images for all those notes over time... different banks wanting slight variations then the time to create a specific banknote let along different denominations..

 

I love it when the main vignette of a note incorporates the denomination of the note with it.

 

@ Steve - That's an amazing book; I reference my copy all the time. I've seen those vignette on many stocks/bonds and quite a few Commemorative Panels. @ Obsolete - Those are are call "counters" and they were very popular on bank notes of the 1840s and '50s. American Bank Note featured them in their Archive Series portfolios of 1991 and 1992. I'll post the "Ones" and also a 5. You'll find another one in this thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t160644/#post1120286.